Home Keeping Tuesday ~ Menu Planning

Menu planning was never a part of our routine until the last couple of months. Once-a-month-cooking makes it almost too easy to just walk out to the big freezer every morning and pull out a bag or casserole pan of whatever sounds good at the moment. Once-a-month-shopping, however, necessitates a menu plan to cover all of the extra side items for dinners and little things that we make a quick trip to the store to pick up.

Until now, I have done weekly menu plans more for the sake of preserving my own sanity. A mom can only answer the “what are we having for _____” question so many times in a day. Plus, I discovered that a simple plan posted on the fridge takes the think work out of the day’s meals.

I am by no means an expert menu planner but here is what we are doing now in preparation for our big OAMS trip coming up in two weeks.

1. Keep a list hanging on the refrigerator or in another easy place to note items as you run out of them.

2. Inventory the items (with amounts) that you still have in your pantry, refrigerator and freezer.

3. Begin working your way backward from a simple menu plan. I like to use the weekly menu plan form from Money Saving Mom. Looking at the plan a week at a time makes it seem less overwhelming. Be sure to list everything you need for each meal in your menu plan including condiments, beverages and specific fruits and veggies.

4. Transfer items from the menu to a grocery list. I have a couple of drafts of this list. The first is messy with lots of tally marks as I add to the number of each item I need. The second is neat enough that I can actually read it in the grocery store.

Additional tips:

*Some moms keep a list of the family’s favorite or most common meals in their home management binder and fill in the menu plan with those meals and leave spaces for new recipes to try. (I’m still working on this one.)

*Plan even those meals that you don’t think you need to plan. This will eliminate the extra trips to the store and take the guess work out of the day.

*Plan your menu based on using as much as possible of what you already have in inventory to save money.

*Save your menu plan to reuse again for the weeks or months that you just don’t have time to plan.

Share your great menu planning ideas in the comments!

Weekly Menu

The goal of this week’s menu is to clean out the pantry, freezer and refrigerator in preparation for our once-a-month cooking (OAMC) on September 9th and once a month shopping (OAMS) on September 14th. This is the first week that we return to our homeschool co-op on Friday and we are working concessions for a college football game on Saturday to raise money for missions. I took those plans into consideration, took inventory of what we still have in the house and came up with the menu and grocery list based on those items. Here is what is on the menu this week:

Monday
Breakfast: Make Ahead French Toast (Recipe from the Raising Olives Blog here.)
Lunch: Burritos and Quesadillas, Fruit, Yogurt
Dinner: Mexican Chicken w/ Rice and veggies
Snacks: Fruit/Yogurt/Homemade Granola/Homemade Granola Bars

Tuesday
Breakfast: Oatmeal
Lunch: Peanut Butter and Jelly on Homemade Tortillas
Dinner: Black Bean Soup w/ Cornbread
Snacks: Fruit/Yogurt/Homemade Granola/Homemade Granola Bars

Wednesday
Breakfast: Mini Banana Muffins/Yogurt
Lunch: Chicken Tenders/Veggies
Dinner: Waffles w/ syrup
Snacks: Fruit/Yogurt/Homemade Granola/Homemade Granola Bars

Thursday
Breakfast: Waffles w/ syrup
Lunch: Make Ahead Black Mexican Black Bean Dip w/ Tortillas
Dinner: White Chicken Chili w/ Mexican Cornbread
Snacks: Fruit/Yogurt/Homemade Granola/Homemade Granola Bars

Friday
Breakfast: Granola Bars/Yogurt
Lunch: Peanut Butter and Jelly Wraps/Applesauce/Veggie Sticks
Dinner: Teriyaki Chicken w/ fried Rice and Veggies
Snacks: Banana Muffins/ Fruit Leather/Peanut Butter Cookies

Saturday
Breakfast: Oatmeal/Yogurt/Fruit
Lunch:
Dinner: The majority of this day will be spent working concessions for a missions fund raiser.
Snacks:

Sunday
Breakfast: Yogurt/Fruit
Lunch: Veggie Soup/ cornbread
Dinner: Leftovers

Many of the recipes for our homemade items will soon be included under the "On the Table" section above.



I print out our weekly menu and post it on the refigerator on Sunday afternoons. This eliminates the constant "what are we having for ______?" questions and also reminds me of what I need to thaw, put in the crockpot or prep for the next day.

Check back on Tuesday for more of the how and why of menu planning!